Recipe foraged by Sefton Women’s Insitute
Ingredients:
1 kg blackberries
1 kg sugar
1½ tbsp of lemon juice
50ml of water
Note: blackberries don’t contain much pectin – the thing that sets jam. If you want a harder set jam that keeps slightly longer then use granulated sugar with a packet of pectin or jam sugar. For a softer set just use granulated sugar.
About 4 jam pots full but prepare a couple extra just in case you want taster pots.
Method:
Put the blackberries into a preserving pan or really large heavy-based saucepan. Don’t be tempted to use a little pan. Add the 50ml of water and 1½ tbsp of lemon juice and bring to the boil.
Lower the heat and simmer for 15 minutes. The blackberries should be soft and pulpy. Add the sugar and stir over a very low heat until the sugar has completely dissolved. Raise the heat and bring to a full rolling boil.
It expands a lot and can spit so use a very long handles wooden spoon to stir. Boil rapidly for 10-12 minutes until the setting point of 105C is reached. I use a sugar thermometer, if you don’t have one Google the saucer and freezer method of finding setting point.
Remove from the heat and skim off the excess scum. Leave for few minutes so the fruit can settle and you can assemble the array of jars.
Pour into sterilised jars, label and seal. Enjoy!
I sterilise my jam jars by cleaning in the dishwasher then lowest oven setting for 15 minutes just before bottling. A bottle funnel isn’t necessary but it makes life a lot easier when handling very hot jam.
